mcconnell. is he planning on sitting down with those two republican leaders any time soon? is the white house saying? >> reporter: there's nothing announced for a leaders meeting so far. but i am certain, wolf, that that will be coming because there's such important negotiations ahead. i'm told that the president's conversation with speaker boehner was courteous, it was brief. and i'm told that they also discussed the importance of keeping their public statements vague or general enough so that they leave themselves enough private negotiating room to get a deal done to avoid the fiscal cliff, wolf. >> that's probably smart too. thanks very much for that, jessica. let's dig a little bit deeper right now with our chief political analyst gloria borger. isn't his responsibility right now though to take the first step, offer a proposal to boehner, to mcconnell, to the republicans? we assume that the democrats, nancy pelosi would go along and harry reid would go along with the president. >> well, i th